Smithtown residents rally against planned budget hikes

Smithtown residents gathered Tuesday outside Town Hall on West Main Street to protest the proposed 10.7% tax levy hike  in the 2026 budget , which is up for town board approval next week.

With roughly 25 people in attendance, rally organizer Irwin Izen, a registered Republican, held up a copy of the 124-page budget and said the proposed spending hike was too high a burden for residents.

Izen called for more efficient budgeting and a simplified way to present the budget to residents. He sought “an intelligent conversation with the town on where we can consolidate and where we can combine” services to cut costs and save local taxpayers money.

“We hear inflation, we hear rising costs. We’re here today to say it’s time for innovation, it’s time for consolidation,” Izen said.

The $141.4 million budget, proposed by Republican Supervisor Ed Wehrheim, calls for a 5.3% spending hike. The budget would increase taxes on all town funds by 9% on the average home, or roughly $160.16 annually, and it would pierce the state tax cap.

The town board will hold a public hearing on the budget Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Senior Center.

Wehrheim did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday following the rally. He has warned that if the town were to stay under the cap, Smithtown would have to slash 46 full-time jobs from its payroll, or 10% of full-time staff.

Those layoffs would mean cutting services used for senior programs, leaf and brush pickup services, lifeguard hours at town beaches and pools, the town’s substance abuse treatment and prevention center Horizons Counseling & Education, youth bureau operations, recreation and summer programs, and others.

However, those who attended and spoke at the rally — some with signs criticizing the salary raises the town approved for elected officials in recent years — said the burden shouldn’t be passed on to residents.

Jesse Phillips, a Democrat running for town council who spoke, criticized the town board for proposing 3.9% to 4% salary hikes for elected officials while asking residents “to pay more.”

“You freeze your raises, you don’t ask people who are struggling to pay more,” Phillips said.

Nicole Garguilo, a spokeswoman for Wehrheim, said in a statement Tuesday the rally was “political posturing” by Democratic opponents in the upcoming election.

The town board looks forward to “hearing from nonpartisan residents” at the Nov. 4 public hearing about whether an average household will be willing to pay $3 extra weekly to maintain services, or "cut over 40 full-time employees" and lose services that "thousands of families rely on," Garguilo said.